What does the passage mean?

Read the passages and then click on the coloured sections for further explanation, then answer the questions on the following screens.

What is meant by this passage?

Matthew 26:26-29

1While they were eating was the Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

What festival were Jesus and his disciples celebrating when they shared this meal together?

Explain the significance of the bread and wine shared at the meal.

How might this passage relate to Christian belief about atonement?

Leviticus 16:20-22

20When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. was the 21He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

Explain what is meant by a ‘scapegoat’.

How might this passage be linked to Jesus?

What does this passage say about atonement?

Isiah 53:3-9

3He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. was the 4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Why did Jesus have to suffer according to this passage?

Why was Jesus’ death so important for Christians?

Explain what is meant by the term ‘Suffering servant’.